This invention relates to packing machines, for packing or wrapping articles and particularly to a packing machine for an article or bundle of articles which is to be wrapped in a wrapping material, hereinafter referred to generally as foil, ready for insertion into a container.
Where large numbers of articles are being produced at high speed, and are required to be packed into containers, it is desirable for the packing process to be carried out as quickly and smoothly as possible, without too many interruptions to the flow of articles. The speed of such operation is, however, generally restricted by the need to perform certain operations with the mechanism stationary, particularly when two separate elements making up the final package are brought together.
One example of a prior type of machine in which a specific effort has been made to overcome such problems, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,952, which is designed to pack articles such as cigarettes supplied in a continuous stream to an upper layer, whilst open ended packets are formed at a bottom layer, and in which a middle layer contains a mechanism which pushes the bundles into the packet, closes them and delivers them in one continuous stream. The machine is designed to rotate continuously about a vertical axis past a continuous supply of cigarettes and a continuous supply of each of the packing materials. However, known machines of this kind suffer from considerable complexity, particularly because there are a large number of radially reciprocating parts in the construction, and this will necessarily place an upper limit on the possible speed of operation of the machine.
In a preferred form of the invention, the machine comprises a rotary assembly which is adapted to receive articles travelling along a path which is adjacent one region of the periphery of the assembly, and means for receiving foil or other wrapping material, at a different peripheral region, the wrapper then being oriented in a tangential plane; the assembly further comprising means for reorienting the wrapper into a plane which is perpendicular to said tangential plane at a subsequent rotary position, where it is suitably aligned with a cooperating article wrapping means.
Preferably the perpendicular plane is a packing machine in which the perpendicular plane is also perpendicular to the axis of the assembly.
Preferably the means for receiving the wrapper comprises a pad having an aperture, the pad being pivotable to a position in which the aperture is aligned with a wrapper forming pocket, and at which articles are passed through the aperture to pick up the wrapper and carry it into the pocket.
Preferably, the rotary mechanism comprises a plurality of article wrapping stations, each comprising a wrapper forming pocket having an entry aperture which, in its operative position, is axially aligned with the aperture in a corresponding wrapper receiving pad, and an exit aperture from which the folded wrapper article is ejected.
Preferably the folded foil bundle is then received in a further former device and the wrapper forming pocket is then arranged to be moved to a position in which it is clear of the entry of the further former device, to allow the trailing end of the wrapped article to be engaged by suitable closure means. In a preferred arrangement, the wrapper receiving pad and the forming pocket are arranged to pivot between the required positions as they rotate around the drum by means of linkages connected to a crankshaft.
The invention also extends to a packing machine comprising a rotary assembly, said assembly including means for receiving a wrapper oriented in a substantially tangential plane at a first rotary position of the assembly, means for reorienting the wrapper at a second rotary position, into a plane which is substantially perpendicular to the axis of the assembly, means for advancing an article to be wrapped in an axial direction so as to intercept a wrapper in said perpendicular plane and become partially wrapped therein, and means for receiving said partially wrapped article.
Accordingly, the present invention may be used in a packing machine which is adapted to work on a continuous basis, and can readily be adapted for dealing with articles or materials of widely diverse character, which operates to insert articles into containers whilst the containers and the articles are moving in concert with one another.